Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-19
Of the
Late Raansss>

LessovA 81 the
Late RaAhstr
Enron HrnALD-ur.der the above
p.ption there appes.ed in the HERALD
q the 18th inst. = wellwritten ar;icie
which every farmer in Los Angeles
.onntv should tread, mark, learn and
huxrdly digest." The writer's views
upon summer. ALLOWING. ''volunteering
snd the early and late rainfalis OF eacn
s.eson arc the soundest / have yet seen
!. uri,t. Many years experience IN
- Eastern and Central States mas
urov~n that by summer-fallowing land
"a, Weld more in the lorg run than
vhen seeded every year, and the crop is
..r~r In this State the necessity for
s,nner-fallowing becomes more appar'
e.t every year. We will take this sea-
- for example. 1t is estimated by men
!. = position to know that less than one
a.u of the land usually sown to grain
1. this county has been sown during the
rre,ent season. Experience has shown
ss.t grain sown here after the first OF
March rarely reaches maturity. 1t is
in.t heading out when early-sown grain
= riuepinc. and the hot weather OF the
eerlv summer months is sure to WILT and
Ieatroy it. The ground 10 now 30 wet
efker the late rainfall of nearly twelve
i.e.hes that it will be impossible to plow
IN most localities for q week. to come
All farmers know that if seed is sown
vheu the soil is too wet the ground
ssbakes." and the crop is destroyed. For
thess reasons it follows that but little
1ore seeding will be done this winter,
a.d a. much of the early.sown grain
suffered during the late long ary
speli. there will be lees than
knlf . crop harvested In TINS
ooanty during the present year. !.
i NOT altogether owing to the fact tnat
farmers were afraid of dry season that
% much land was left unseeded. IL Is
onlv where there is considerable sand In
the soil, that land can bs plowed when
dry. or after q light rainfall. A great
deal Of the rich mesa land in our best
grain growing localities cannot be
plowed until it is thoroughly soaked by
= heavy rain. Many of our farmers did
not SOW simply because they could not
plow. But how different all would
have been had summer.faliowing
been adopted. The land plowed in the
sxing. after our heavy rains are over
liss mellow as an ash heap, and can De
sowed ct any time during the following
winter, let it be wet or dry. The farmer
having but half the work to do tnat ne
had under the old system, can bide his
time and SOW his land when everything
= propitious. He will put in his crop
moro carefully, and the result will be
that with but little more than half the
labor and expense, he will harvest q
larger aud better crop from half OF his
farm than he did under the old slip
shod, hen scratching and dry plowlng
system from the whole of it. This Is the
very season in which to inaagurate the
sammer-fallowing system in Los Angeles
county. Half Of the land is now un-
Moved and unseeded. 1t is now too
1ate to SOW with any certainty OF getting
. crop. B1. the ground in two weeks
from now viii be in splendid condition
to summer-fallow. The weeds will all
Be up and can be turned under and
killed. 1t will not pay to volunteer
anything this year. The volunteer
grain that sprouted with the rain in No
vember last, got such "set-
hack" from the dry weather foil wing
that it viii not pay to harvest. Weeds
flourish where grain will die; and the
weeds have got such start OF the vol
un.eer and dry-sown grain that they
viii choke it out. So pillow it under. 1t
will make good manure for the soil, but
nothing else. 1t used to make good
shay" but the livery men have got SO
particular nowadays that they object to
volunteer hay" when it is more than
half last years stubble and this years
weeds. When the volunteer crop was
allowed to ripen and was cut and
threshed, it was sold to the miller, who
converted it into "rolled bailey" but
these same livery men soon got tired Of
feeding mixture of barley, clover burrs.
mustard stalks and weeds, and de-
maEded clean grain. BY summer.fai-
lowing and careful farming we can raise
good crops every year, and with care In
the selection of seed we can raise the
cleanest and best wheat and harley IN
the world. Our wheat is in demand the
world over; SO is our barley if it is clean
and bright. But heretofore our barley
has been SO dark, and so mixed with
wild cats and weeds that it is not tit to
export. We can change all this with
bat little trouble, and nop is tie time to
inaugurate the much needed change.
The man who summer-fallows his land
will, in a season like the present. be
sure of his crop and can look forward
with complacency to the high prices for
grain sure to rule; while the man who
did not summer-fallow, ard has in con-
sequence been unable to plcw or SOW
like many of us this year), having moth
ing to sell at these high prices, will wish
that be, too. had trie little
SUMNER FALLow.